Titane is a French film directed by Julia Ducournau that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, where it won the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest prize. The film tells the story of Alexia, a young woman who survived a car accident as a child and had a metal plate put in her head, which gives her strange powers and affects her behaviour. She works as a model and poses as a boy in a night club where she meets Vincent, a lonely firefighter grieving the loss of his wife and son who disappeared ten years earlier.
After a bizarre and violent encounter with a car, Alexia becomes pregnant with a mysterious fetus that seems to have supernatural powers too. She runs away from the hospital and hides in Vincent's house, where she pretends to be his long-lost son. Vincent accepts her as his son and they embark on a surreal journey that explores themes of gender identity, family, trauma, and violence. Along the way, they encounter various characters, including a car show promoter, a veterinarian, and a retired luxury car maker, each of whom adds a surreal and disturbing layer to the story.
The film is highly stylized and features strong visual and sound design, with a mix of surrealism, body horror, and emotional intensity. The performances by lead actress Agathe Rousselle as Alexia and newcomer Vincent Lindon as Vincent are powerful and mesmerizing. The film has been praised for its daring filmmaking, its bold storytelling, and its originality, which defies easy categorization. It is not a film for everyone, but it has gained a cult following and has been compared to works by David Cronenberg and Gaspar Noé.